Aron Stone: The Surviving Assassin
by You are being haunted
Summary: Aron Stone has been alone since her family died, and her brother left her, but what happens when she meets Monkey D. Luffy. This is the story, of how a girl without a home or family finds just that.


**I own nothing, this story was a gift fic from Sho Aoy Cupid for my birthday, this is the chapter she or he wrote and I am just continuing it. I don't own OP, I am just using the story, I have 2 accounts, the other is You are haunted by my ghost.**

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**_Aron Stone; The Surviving Assassin_**

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The flames were seen as blood spattered among the walls and oozed onto the floor as a number of bodies were seen.

"Is that the last of 'em?" Said one man wearing a Marine's uniform, but the clean white and blue was covered it spatters of blood and ash.

"That should be all of 'em." Said another with a similar uniform. "Damn… Who would've thought this nice family were the murders we were looking for all this time. Then again, their trade mare dragon tattoos were always covered from unsuspecting eyes. We lost a few good men to their elder daughter if they even try to get too close to her. Ya know what I mean?"

"No shit… Such a waste, but orders are orders. The Commander's son is one of the victims anyway… They brought it on themselves."And with that the men walked away from the room not realizing, that, beneath the floor boards, there lay a young girl, her mouth covered to keep from screaming as the blood dripped from the floorboards onto her face and body. Here blue eyes wide in fear and shock at what she had witnessed, clutching the red cowboy hat to her chest.

Soon she found the strength to turn to her stomach and started to crawl away from under the house and out into the dark night. The clouds gathering for a promise of rain as her home continued to burn on. She ran into the forest, wiping away her tears and blood, smearing it around her face as her lavender hair, in a single braid, bounced behind her. The dragon tattoos on her pale skin showed dragons on both her arms, her right leg, and coiled around her stomach and back. After a while of running, rain started to pour down onto her, cleaning her off the blood on her skin, but her clothes were stained of the blood of her slaughtered family.

She held onto the hat as she placed it on her head. "Mommy…" She said as tears fell down her already puffy eyes before she heard voices, familiar ones, and she followed those voices to a small Marine base and her blue eyes grew dim as she slowly made her way to the base.

The next morning, there was tension in the air when news got out that the family that lived in a small town was none other than the Stone family, a family of assassins for generations that always live in secret, but were now found and killed by the Marines. But not even an half an hour later the same Marines that killed the Stone family has been found slaughtered in their base just miles away from the first crime scene.

"There said that there's a survivor." Said one gossiping housewife to another, not seeing a small girl wearing a red cowboy hat with a dragon wrapped around and wearing a long sleeved shirt and long pants with moccasins shoes.

"I heard there's two!" Said the other housewife, making the girl stop at one stand to listen.

"Their youngest daughter and their eldest son." The woman continued. "When the other Marines came over to examine the body, they found a picture of the family. Husband, wife, elder daughter, elder son, and the youngest. Other family members that lived with them didn't fit the missing two! That rain last night preserved most of their bodies for a clear examination."

"Wasn't his name James? And the youngest Aron?"

"Yes! Those are there names… It's such a pity to find out that that nice family are a bunch of murderers."

The girl left before she was recognized and to keep from creating a scene. She's now an outlaw, and she had nearly forgotten that her brother has left in secret to go on an adventure two days ago, she's the only one who knows his main destination, to find Red Shanks and join the crew. He was going to change his fate, he told her. He'll still use his skills their parents taught them, but he wasn't going to continue the family reputation. He would like to marry one day, and he doesn't want the reputation keep him away from that. Their mother was lucky to find their father who married her despite the danger. But times are different now than it was for their parents, and he didn't want to stick around, he was going to do something about it.

She decided then that she, too, will set out to find Red Shanks, and hopefully find her brother with him.

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-12 years later-

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Aron Stone, now 19, was in a small merchant ship as she looked over at the crew who looked at her in fear. She wore a black clingy t-shirt, cargo pants, and black boots, but she didn't hide her dragon tattoos. She smiled at the crew, but the crew knew that one wrong move and they would be dead, much like their captain, a former and retired Marine lieutenant. Her reason was simple for his death, it served as a reminder that she was still alive and still having a grudge on what the Marines have done to her and her family. The crew listened to her as they continued to work, even over the dried blood pool that their captain has been slayed. She was merciful, however, to the rest of the men, she had no qualms with civilians, even if one of them was a bounty hunter, and she would leave him alone unless he made the first move.

"W-We're ne-nearly to p-port, M-Miss…" Said the navigator, a pudgy man with little confidence.

"Good." She said cheerfully. "That will be my stop while you guys take your garbage and find yourself a much more decent captain." She giggled as the man shook and laughed nervously.

Once they reached to port, she got off with her canvas bag and turned to wave at the crew. "Remember, if you tell anyone I'm here for less than a day, I'll come and find you!" She said happily, but it was a clear warning to the crew, who she knew would need two days to stock. She made sure the men had a good meal each night for that reason alone. She had made that mistake the last time when she hijacked a merchant ship and left with no warning. She made quick work of those perusing her, but the crew weren't so lucky that night. The only survivor she left wouldn't be able to walk anymore.

She wandered around town, finding that, although some people stared at her, they don't seem to know of the rumor of the surviving Stone child of assassins. She lifted her red cowboy hat and her blue eyes looked at all the stalls of food and found herself quite hungry. She didn't really eat well on the ship. She got sick off of one poison the last merchant ship tired on her food, and the cook didn't like her arsenic cocktail she made him as thanks.

She was going to get something when someone beat her to the meat stall and bought all the meat there. Sure, a normal person could do one or two things: argue that the person was being a greedy and gluttonous pig, or find another stall to get something to eat. But she simply smiled as she felt pissed and grabbed the shoulder of the man who had the balls to get the meat she was going to get. And no one was going to leave until she has her meat. But when the man turned to face her, she immediately recognized who the man is.

"Nah? What's up?" Monkey D. Luffy asked as he took a huge bite of the meat he has in his hand while the rest were in a bag that all could barely fit.

She blinked as she knows his reputation, but she smiled sweetly as she pointed to the meat in his bag. "I was going to buy some of that, it was rather rude of you to take all of it."

"Nah? Well, you should've been a little faster!" Luffy said with a laugh. "You have pretty cool tattoos."

"You have a pretty cool hat…" She said as she recognized it. How could she not forget it? "Red Shanks gave it to you, right?" She said it loud enough for everyone to stop what they were doing.

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"He used to come to my home when I was little."

"Same here!" Luffy said as he smiled. "Have you've seen him since?"

"Nope! But I do plan on running into him one of these days." She said. "He might have information about someone I'm looking for."

"Na? Who're you looking for?"

"My elder brother…" She said as her tone seemed to soften at the thought of her brother, grasping onto that hope that he's still alive.

"I see…" Luffy said as he thought of his own older brother.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" She said, her true genuine feeling showing as she remembered what happened two years ago. "You lost your brother not long ago…" She remembered the stories she heard about Ace's death. 'Damn Marines… Always destroys everything in the name of their "justice"!'

"Na… Are you okay?"

"I'm fine…" She said. "Just… Remembering something that gave me a reason for taking on this journey." She smiled as she remembered her family being slaughtered.

"Oh, okay." Luffy said as he took a bite of the meat he held in his hand. "So, what're you doing'?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm just looking for some leads and make my merry way out of this town. I don't like staying anywhere near Marine bases" She said with a smile. "Those bastards should just die. Don't you think?"

"That's kind of harsh thinking. I know someone in the Marines and he's a friend of mine."

"You're a pirate aren't you?" She asked, confused by this. "Won't you be enemies? Won't he kill you when you two meet again?"

"Na? Well, sure, that's how it's supposed to be when it comes to Marines and pirates, but there's two sides to everything."

"Two sides?"

Luffy nodded. "Yeah! Like my friend, Colby, he's a good marine. Even though he was a slave for a pirate crew for a couple years, it was his dream to be a Marine. And because I helped him obtain that dream, even though I'm a pirate, we're still friends. Sure, when the day does come that we will meet each other, we will give it our all." He chuckled. "And I know that he and I won't back down until one of us is down."

She stared at him for a moment as she raised a brow. "But people change… He'll be like any other… preaching about 'justice' while trying t run away from their own sins…"

Luffy stared at her for a moment before he threw the bone behind him. "Something happen to you?"

She managed a smile, but her eyes showed anger and sadness. "I think we're done." She said as she was about to walk away when Luffy grabbed her wrist and suddenly dragged her around through one of the many alley ways of the town. "What!?" She said, sounding surprised by this as she found her footing to run along the other, who was laughing like a carefree idiot.

They ran around for sometime before Luffy stretched his arm to the tallest building in town and he held onto her as they left the ground.

She held onto the other as this slightly surprised her as her feet left the ground and saw the building getting dangerously close and fast for her liking and closed her eyes for a moment before her feet were safely on the roof of the building.

"Look at that view!" He said.

She did and she saw the town's bird's eye beauty of it. "Wow…" She said as the wind nearly knocked her hat off, only for Luffy to catch it. "Thank you… You don't know how much this hat means to me…"

"It is your treasure?"

She nodded as she placed the hat back on her head. "It was my mom's before the Marines practically slaughtered her and my family…"

"Oh, so that's why you're so pissed." Luffy said as he leaned back on the small pillar of the tower. "You know… My navigator said that there'll be a really bad storm that will most likely destroy this town." He said as she looked at him, wondering what he was talking about. "At this very moment, a few members of my crew decided to let the mayor of this town know so the townsfolk will clear out. But from the looks of it the mayor isn't going to do anything." He smiled as he looked at her while handing her a piece of meat. "Hey, you want to help stir trouble?"

"Trouble?" She said as she grabbed the piece of meat and took a good bite of it.

"Yeah. I like these people. It will be horrible to have them all killed because their mayor is too much of an idiot to take a warning seriously. It will involve the Marines trying to get us, but that's nothing too unusual."

She shrugged her shoulders. "I haven't been in this place long, but okay. But I won't promise to not kill any Marines in my sight."

Luffy shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever works for you, but make sure you don't hurt anyone else…" He looked at the other seriousously. "I won't hesitate to send you flying…"

She grinned. "I guess I should've told you. I'm like you; a devil fruit user."

"Huh? Really?"

"Yeah, I have the Animal Animal fruit. I can change to any animal that isn't related to the ocean."

"Oh, that's cool!" He said with a laugh. "Can you change into a dragon then? Like your cool tats?"

Aron grinned as she looked at the townsfolk. "When will the storm hit?"

"Hm? Na… sometime late at night…"

"Then I've got the best idea!" She said, sounding like an excited child at an amusement park. "It'll sure make these people start runnin' while screamin' their heads off to safety!"

"Oi!" Came a loud shout and the two looked to see another person on top of a roof.

"Oh! Zoro!" Luffy called out to the other.

"C'mon! We have to get back to the ship!"

"Hey! I found someone that will help!"

Aron felt a bit ticked at the swordsman for butting in, but at the same time can't really say much since she just met Luffy and this is the first mate that she's looking at now, gaining the captain's attention because it's important. While she was distracted, a rubber arm wrapped around her waist.

"Hang on!" Luffy said with a toothy grin as he used his other arm to stretch out to where the other stood, who stood there ignoring the fact that a landing from the rubber captain will result in a hole in the roof for whoever resides there. Once he made it to the roof, he made a dent on the roof, causing some commotion before them, but it wasn't enough to cave in. "So, what's up?"

"Nami told everyone to head back to the ship to make some kind of plan to get these people out. Frankly, I don't really see the point, they did elect that idiot after all…"

Luffy laughed. "Yeah, but that's kinda stupid though!"

"I guess you're right on that…" Zoro said as he looked at Aron. "Who's she?"

"Oh, this is Aron Stone! She's gonna help us get the people out of town!"

"Hm? 'Stone'? Where have I heard that before…?" Zoro said as he waved it off. "Doesn't matter, we better get to Sunny before Nami increases our debt for making her wait. Damn witch…"

Aron followed the two to Sunny, where she met the other members of the crew. She felt a little out of place at first until Robin seemed to recognize her by her mother's hat.

"You're… You're from the Stone family… aren't you?"

"Er… y-yes…" She said, hearing about Robin through her mother before, but to actually meet the girl, now woman, in person was a different story.

"I knew your mother, briefly of course."

Aron nodded. "She taught you the basics of being an assassin during one of her assignments."

"Indeed. I'm sorry for what has happened twelve years ago… I know how you feel."

Aron knew about Nico Robin through her mother. Nico Robin is the only survivor of the destruction of one island that is said to hold all of the world's knowledge, but due to her mother, a wanted criminal, returning there, the island had to be destroyed by the Marine's command, making the place non-existent on the map. Out of everyone, she can relate to Robin comfortably than the rest. "Thank you… And I'm sorry to what has happened to you as well, though it was years ago before I even existed."

Robin smiled. "You're mother was a good teacher. She helped me escape and that was the last time I saw her. I never got a chance to thank her for that."

Aron's lips started to tremble as the thought of her mother came to mind. Here was someone who saw her alive as well and thought fondly of her while everyone else saw her and her family as a group of demons. She started to tear up as her shoulders shook. It had been too long since she cried, especially in front of others, but it was good to hear something kind about her family after so long. "That… That means a lot…" She felt a hand on her shoulder and she looks up to see Robin, smiling down to her in a pained yet understanding way.

After a moment to calm down, and feeling rather embarrassed about breaking down the way she did, the group gathered around as Nami laid out a quickly drawn layout of the town and the best place to get everyone to safety from the oncoming storm.

That night, around eleven, the clouds have started to gather above the night sky. There were still some people out and about, the bar goers and the friendly drunks staggering out into the streets, singing off tuned songs with bottles in their hands.

With the first signs of drops came down, a low rumble was in the air and the drunks looked up, only to see glowing blue eyes above them as thunder rumbled. The men screamed in terror as the being roared out, causing a commotion to everyone in town.

"D-D-Dragon!" Shouted one of the men as they ran, causing everyone to come out in mortified fascination.

Said dragon used its strong, leather webbed wings to give it more lift into the air. Once in the air the creature flew over the town, roaring and causing panic to the townsfolk. The creature went onto a rooftop of one of the houses, causing damage and getting people out from there. Once everyone was outside and running towards inland, the creature took up in the air and practically herded the people towards inland as the storm was getting stronger. The dragon looked up to see that skies were getting ugly and the dragon made its way towards the cliff side where the Sunny was docked and was skydiving towards it before transforming into Aron as she landed like a cat onto the dock.

"Awesome!" Called out Luffy, Chopper, Usopp, and Brooke.

"Don't scare me like that!" Franky called out. "I thought you were going to ram Sunny!"

Aron laughed. "Like I would ever sink this ship where Luffy-kun is the captain!" She said with a laugh.

"To think you'd become a dragon out of everything you can change into…" Zoro said. "Is that the only one you can change into or is there more?"

"Yeah right! That's the only dragon kind I know! And why would I want another form?" Aron said. "It's what defines my family!"

Zoro raised his hands up. "Got it, got it…"

"Okay everyone!" Nami called out. "Everyone is out! So let's get the hell out of here before we get swallowed up by the storm!"

"You got it, Sister!" Franky called out as Nami told everyone to get ready for a rough ride as the Sunny was moved to a spot out to sea before a burst of energy forced the ship more out into the storm, against the wind. From there they fought the nature of things as they made sure that the ship didn't tip over and everyone went this way and that getting things down and making sure no one went overboard.

It took them an hour, but the waves and winds finally settled, and only the soft pounding of the rain was the byproduct of the after storm.

Aron went up against the portside rail and looked out to the town, seeing only the wreckage that was once a port town. 'Looks like those people are safe…' She thought as she recalled the children playing in the streets just hours before, only to be lectured by their mothers. It was that thought alone that made her want to go along with this. Other than that it was Luffy's influence to keep the people safe that she would even bother using her ability.

"So, what now?" Usopp asked. "We saved the townsfolk from being killed."

"I don't see the point of it still…" Zoro said, in which Aron can agree somewhat.

"We're going to come back when the storm lets up and I'll come up to the mayor." Nami said as she had a grin on her face. "And have him pay up!"

"THAT WAS YOUR PLAN!?" Most of the crew shouted at her, while Robin didn't say anything and Aron didn't really care either way.

"It was his own fault that he didn't believe me when I told him!" Nami reasoned. "And for that, he has to pay the price."

"Nami-chwan is so beautiful when she bends logic!" Sanji praised.

"Can it, Dartbrow!" Zoro called out, only to start an argument between him and the chef.

"Quite a lively crew." Aron said to Luffy, who was laughing at this.

"Yeah! I love these guys!"

Aron smiled, but she couldn't help but feel a sense of jealousy towards the crew. "Yeah… It shows." She said as the rest of the night was them wrapping things up and heading to bed, in which Aron was offered to stay with the girls as her clothes dried.

The next day, Nami went over to the still shocked mayor and asked for her hefty debt from him, in which the townsfolk told him to pay up for not listening in the first place.

"You're looking for your brother?" Robin asked as she and Aron were with Nami, but mostly just to watch the Navigator's devious blackmail tactics.

"Yeah… I was going to find some kind of lead, but then all this stuff happened." She said.

"I think I may have seen him."

"Huh?"

"Your brother… I remember seeing a young man with a similar tattoo you have and the same color hair…"

"Where did you see him?" Aron asked, this being the closest lead she had in a year.

"I don't think it will be much help, but I saw him up in North Blue when I was there thanks to Shank's men hiding me there for the past two years…" Robin said. "In fact… I think he may be one of his men."

Aron felt her chest swell up as she felt like crying. "I knew it!" She said happily. "I just knew he would go to him!"

"It's still a stretch though…" Robin said, being realistic. "You may die trying to find anyone with connections to Shanks."

"But that just means there's a chance my brother is out there! Alive!" She said. "And as long as I have that chance, I need to take that risk!" She then looked determined. "I will not die so easily until I find him!" She then smiled. "Thank you so much Robin-san! You have no idea how much that information means to me!"

Robin could only smile sadly. "As I've said before, it was only a brief moment and I didn't really talk to him… But if he really is the one you're looking for, then I do wish you the best."

"Thanks…" She said as she looked out into the ocean's horizon. "So North Blue… Know where?"

"It's near a winter island… With an iceberg that looks like a mountain… If you go out ten miles west from that, you'll find a small, uninhabited isle. From there, you just have to look around until someone approaches you. If they're still on there…"

"I'm sure I'll find information once I'm there." She said as she then heard Luffy's laughter. She realized that soon she will part ways from him and she was getting attached to the crazy monkey man. This suddenly didn't settle well with her, but she knew she couldn't take him with her, and that made her pissed. She didn't have anything against the crew, but she saw them as an unmovable obstacle that she has to accept is there and there's nothing she can do without upsetting the captain, and that was a huge no in her case; she would be no better than the Marines killing her family.

"Go talk to him." Robin said, seeing that the other seemed troubled as she looked up to her. "I can see we will part ways after this is done. I think you should talk to him while you still have a chance."

Aron nodded as she went up to Luffy and asked him if he was free to talk privately, which he did and innocently followed her.

Once they were at the edge of the port next to Sunny, she took a deep breath and started. "I'll be on my way to North Blue after this. This will be the last time we'll meet for sometime…"

"You found something about your brother?"

She nodded. "I really hope I can find a way to him once I get there." She said. "But I feel lonely…"

"Lonely?"

"Yeah… It's strange because we haven't really known each other for long, but I really like you and the crew… And leaving like this suddenly… I hate this feeling…"

Luffy could understand what she meant by that. "I know what you mean… Two years ago, when that Kuma guy forced all my crew to different parts of the world, I felt horrible… Weak… Helpless… It's like someone just took my heart out, tore it to pieces and stomping on it mercilessly. I hated that feeling… And when Ace died, it was like my spirit shattered to nothing but powder. But as you can see, I'm still standing and moving forward." He looked to her. "We'll meet again, just like how I met up with my crew two years later."

She stood there as she felt a mix of discontentment of the fact that she just admitted to liking him and he was too dense to realize that and hope of the fact that she will see him again. She took a moment to think about this as she smiled, a true smile. "Yeah! After I find my brother and making sure he's okay, I'll find you." She looked out into the ocean. "Thanks Luffy… I didn't know what I was going to do after meeting up with my brother. But now you've given me a reason to continue on after I find him." She giggled. "I don't like the idea of parting ways, but it can't be helped!"

Luffy smiled as Usopp came up to let them know they were heading out. "Oh, Usopp, you have that black ink thing?"

"Huh?" Usopp said as he dug into his pocket and dug out what looks like a berry. "You mean this thing?" He asked as Luffy swiped it. "Hey!"

"Hold out your arm." Luffy said to Aron as she did, and he drew an 'X' on her arm. "There! That's a promise we'll meet again."

"An 'X'?"

"Oh I get it!" Usopp said. "When we had to leave Vivi behind so she can run her kingdom, we had these on our arms, promising that we're still friends even though no one should know about it."

Aron looked at the mark on her arm and smiled at the significance. "That's a nice thought." She smiled and looked to Luffy. "Thanks Luffy. I'll be sure to keep this mark fresh, as a reminder of this moment."

Luffy chuckled. "You better! We're friends now!"

She nodded as most of Luffy's crew was already on board.

"C'mon Luffy! The Marines would be on our tails any minute!" Nami called out.

"Okay!" Luffy said as he looked to her. "You want to come? I'm sure we'll hit North Blue pretty soon."

She smiled as that offer was tempting, but her brother came first. Besides, she has something to look forward to after she does. "Tempting, but I've already made up my mind." She said as she smiled childishly. "Speaking of making up my mind…" She sang as she quickly kissed him on the lips. "I'll come and find you after I find my brother." And with that she turned into a large bird and flew off before the crew members could question her.

Luffy stood there, blinking as he wasn't sure what just happened. "Wha?"


End file.
